The battles over gay marriage are intense. And bitter. One must only look at the comboxes of Catholic blogs and websites to understand that. I have taken part in bitter debates as well. I probably shouldn’t even call them debates so much as exchanged accusations. Sometimes I’ll admit I sometimes opt for the witty verbal Read more
An American monsignor has proposed that the Catholic Church should drop using the word marriage and replace it with “holy matrimony”. “It is a simple fact that word ‘marriage’ as we have traditionally known it is being redefined in our times,” said Monsignor Charles Pope of Washington archdiocese. “To many in the secular world the Read more
Most married couples with children are satisfied with their relationships. There is only one problem with the dour and dismal portrait of heterosexual marriage painted by Liza Mundy in this month’s Atlantic cover story. It’s wrong. In her bleak rendering, contemporary marriage comes across as unequal, unfair, and unhappy to today’s wives. Wives are burdened Read more
Ordinations of new Catholic priests in Britain have fallen to one tenth of the number in 1965, and marriages and baptisms have also dropped significantly. Details of the declines have been revealed for the first time by the compilation of statistics for these sacraments over the past century. The figures were compiled by the Latin Read more
Couples who helped each other through the stress of Canterbury’s earthquakes were brought closer together by the traumatic events, a new study says. Research into how couples were affected by the 2010 and 2011 earthquakes found that while some couples experienced increased marital distress, others would have felt their relationship grew stronger. University of Canterbury Read more
The Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Papua New Guinea and Solomon Islands at their Annual General Meeting in Madang have prepared a draft Statement on Marriage. If it is also accepted by the Lutheran bishops at their meeting in Lae on 10-14 June 2013, plans may be made to formally launch it in March 2014. Bishop Read more
The catchcry of same-sex marriage proponents is “equality”: gay couples have a right to equal treatment and to deny them legal marriage is blatant discrimination. Yet this claim deflects attention from the real issue: what is the true nature of marriage? Two rival visions jostle for supremacy. The conjugal model says marriage is a lifelong Read more
The Church of England has ruled out offering blessings to same-sex relationships, reiterating that marriage is “a faithful, committed, permanent and legally sanctioned relationship between a man and a woman”. A new report from the church’s faith and order commission recognises the existence of same-sex relationships, but says they are “forms of human relationships which Read more
In two television interviews aired on Easter Sunday, Cardinal Timothy Dolan of New York said Catholics should show more love to gays and lesbians. In an ABC interview he was asked, “What do you say to a gay couple who says, we love God, we love the Church, but we also love each other and Read more
Marriage has been under assault for at least 40 years, but according to Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone, the younger generation can turn the tide — by getting married and staying married. Archbishop Cordileone of San Francisco is the chairman of the US bishops’ Subcommittee for the Promotion and Defense of Marriage. As the Supreme Court on Read more